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“Sarah takes her responsibilities as a strong White ally seriously. Sarah never shies away from doing the necessary work to advance our schools towards more inclusive and equitable places. She is a relentless ally and a good listener, able to call White people into the work while continuing to learn from People of Color equally entrenched in diversity work.”

Dr. Sandra “Chap” Chapman, consultant & former Director of Equity and Community, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School

Sarah hershey

FOUNDER
 

Sarah Hershey is a social justice educator who began her career as a middle school teacher. She holds a M.Ed. in Social Justice Education and teacher certifications in middle school and social science. Since 2003, Sarah has facilitated groups of youth and adults in developing nuanced social justice analyses. For over a decade, Sarah was a curriculum designer and lead facilitator for the white affinity group sessions at the National Association of Independent Schools’ annual People of Color Conference.  She is also a recurring presenter at and white affinity group facilitator for the annual White Privilege Conference. Initially a longtime member of Natalie Thoreson’s inVision Consulting team, Sarah founded Courageous Change Consulting out of an increasing sense of urgency to work with her fellow white people to advance racial justice.

listen to sarah discuss her work

Informed by her own personal and intergenerational trauma healing, Sarah engages white people through community building, self-reflection, personal storytelling, dialogue, role-play, and tangible strategies for change.  She is particularly committed to creating compassionate learning environments in which people can confront challenging issues, take risks, make mistakes, and practice new behaviors.  She has facilitated these challenging but rewarding conversations with preK-16 students, teachers, school administrators, non-profits, and community members.  As a result of her dual hats of parent and educator, Sarah’s consulting work includes supporting parenting adults in raising anti-racist white children starting in early childhood.

Sarah currently lives with her husband and two children in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she spends her rare free moments singing at the piano, baking challah, and tending to chickens.